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| Damon Hatheway, Fyle Finck, and Sasha Schell are producing a web video series on the Middlebury men’s basketball team. |
Three student video makers plan to take their audience onto the court and behind the scenes of Middlebury’s men’s basketball team this season with a new documentary series titled “The Road to Salem.” The team has enjoyed a remarkable ascension through the ranks in recent years, and the new series hopes to capture the stories of this season.
Producer Kyle Finck ’14 dreamed up the series while studying abroad in Prague. “What fascinated me about Middlebury basketball was that at a college where every student is doing a thousand different things, there are few times where the different silos are brought together,” said Finck, who is also editor of The Middlebury Campus. “Middlebury basketball is one of those. Apart from commencement and convocation, where can you see 2,000 Middlebury students in one place?”
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| The audience gets a player’s-eye view of Coach Jeff Brown during practice. |
Finck, Damon Hatheway ’13.5 and Sasha Schell ’15.5 amassed a huge library of game and practice footage over the past year. Hatheway is the lead writer, while Schell edits the series. Schell and Finck both shoot video. Two more students, Innocent Tswamuno ’15 and Ian Stewart ’14, add original music, and graphics respectively.
In the first installment we meet Coach Jeff Brown and learn that his remarkable success in recent years was hard earned over many challenging seasons at Middlebury. Finck says the goal is not to create a promotional piece, but to tell an honest, compelling story about coaches and players.
With a documentary flavor, the story alternates on-court action with practices and thoughtful interviews. Episodes planned for second semester include player profiles, the big game against Williams, and the uniquely emotional rivalry with Amherst College. Later, depending on the team’s success, look for coverage of the NESCAC and NCAA tournaments. “Salem” in the title refers to Salem, Virginia, home of the NCAA Division III Final Four in March.
Here are the first two episodes. Stay tuned for more.